Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli and coach Claude Julien held exit interviews with players yesterday and then conducted a lengthy press conference during which many of the open questions about the team were answered.

There were many topics of conversation, but one of the most pressing was the status of free agent-to-be Nathan Horton, who must undergo surgery to repair a dislocated left shoulder initially sustained in a fight with Jarome Iginla on April 20 and aggravated in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals against Chicago.

The surgery, which tightens or repairs damaged ligaments in the shoulder joint, can require up six months of recovery time. That means Horton could miss the first three months of the 2013-14 season.

“It popped out in Game 1,” Horton said. “I wore a brace for the whole rest of the playoffs, and obviously it didn’t feel too good. But there’s a lot of guys playing through injuries and I was just one of them.”

After a terribly inconsistent regular season in which the right winger had 13 goals, nine assists and a minus-1 rating, it seemed improbable the B’s would re-sign Horton given their limited salary cap space. He earned $5.5 million this season and presumably will be seeking at least that much annually in his next deal.

But when the 28-year-old delivered an outstanding postseason with seven goals, 12 assists and a plus-20 rating, Chiarelli took notice. He made it clear he wants Horton back.

“I hope so,” he said. “I guess I’ll answer the question. I’ve told him that I’d like him to come back. We’ll see how it goes.”

Horton then was asked if he might consider taking a hometown discount to make it easier for the Bruins to retain his services.

“I’m not even going to talk about it,” he said. “If you want to talk about it, you can call my agent. We just play hockey, and that’s all we worry about. Sooner or later, it’s going to get taken care of, and we’ll all find out what it’s going to be. I don’t know yet so I can’t tell you, and that’s it.”

He was asked if he might re-sign with the B’s before free agency opens a week from today.

“Again, I’m not sure,” he said. “I guess I’d have to give you my agent’s number. I don’t do any of the deals or any of the talking.”

Despite the evasive nature of his answers about a new contract, Horton was open about his desire to remain with the Bruins.

“Two out of three years that I’ve been here, we’ve been to the Stanley Cup (finals), and we won one time,” Horton said. “I said a million times, the guys in the room are amazing. It’s been fun and I really enjoy every player on the team.

“The team is great and it’s a fun place to play. Other than that, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I couldn’t tell you throughout the year what was going to happen. I don’t know. We’ll see what happens.”